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Holiness and Righteoufnefs before Him SERMON all the Days of our Life, be afcribedn all Honour and Glory of us and all the - Ifrael of God, now and for evermore. Amen.

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SERMON
IX.

Chrift both the hidden and revealed
Mystery.

COLOSS. i. 26.

The Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and from Generations, but now is made manifeft to his Saints.

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WITHOUT Controverfy, fays the fame Apoftle, "Great is the Mye

ftery of Godlinefs, God was

"manifeft in the Flefh." And St. Peter,.
fpeaking of the Riches of Divine Grace
and Love displayed in our Redemption by
Jefus Chrift, and preached by the Power of:
the Holy Ghoft, adds, "which Things
"the Angels defire to look into." Ime
plying, that the Work and Procefs of Man's
Salvation, as related in the Gospel and care
ried on in the Souls of the Faithful, affords
Matter of Wonder and Astonishments to:
those bleffed Beings (how little foever some

more

IX,

more nearly concerned feem to be affected by SERMON it) who excited by a Holy Curiofity defire to pry into this Myftery of Compaffion and Mercy, that they may be furnished with a fresh Theme for the Praife of the Divine Goodness. But the Holy Angels, tho' employed on many Occafions and Meffages relating to this Wonder of Love; tho' they intereft themselves fo much in the Happipinefs of Men, as to rejoice at their Conversion; and are appointed to be their Guardians and Protectors under God, to minister to the Heirs of Salvation; yet as Chrift took not on Him the Nature of Angels, but the Nature of Man, fo they can s not experience that Grace of God which bringeth Salvation, as they do not need it, nor penetrate into the Myfteries of a Faith which is neither fuited to their Nature nor Occafions: But yet they know enough of the Love of Chrift for Mankind to give Glory to God on High for Peace reftored on Earth, and for fuch amazing good Will towards Men as is now manifefted in the gracious and wonderful Oeconomy of their Redemption. The Mystery then here fpoken of is the Whole of Man's Redemption as revealed in the Gofpet Difpenfation:

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and

SERMON and the chief Business at prefent will be to

IX.

fhew,

First, In what Senfe it was a hidden Myftery before the Time of this Revelation; and

Secondly, How and to whom it is now made manifeft.

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That Chrift a Saviour was promised to Adam and Eve by God Himself under the Character of the Seed of the Woman that fhould bruise the Serpent's Head, we read Gen. iii. That this comfortable Doctrine was tranfmitted to their Pofterity, and that Seth, Enoch, and Noah were Preachers of Righteousnefs in the Spirit of Christ is not to be doubted; for " by Faith Noah, being "warned of God of Things not feen as yet, "prepared the Ark to the faving of his "House." But what other Faith was this than Faith in that Redeemer, of which the Ark was a Type, and who should fave his People from their Sins?

Abraham foon after the Flood had,according to the Teftimony of Christ himfelf, very clear Discoveries of Him; nay fo eminent was his Faith, that he is styled the Father of the Faithful: And among

IX.

his near Defcendents were fome remark- SERMON able Types of the Meffiah, as Ifaac, Jacob, and Jofeph. If we come lower down to the giving of the Law by Mofes, the Predictions and Refemblances of the Saviour, in his Perfon and Offices, thicken upon us, the Law being in almost all its Ministrations and Services a School-mafter to lead its Difciples to Chrift; accordingly, all its Sacrifices and Offerings, and the very Structure and Furniture of the Tabernacle, as likewise those of the Temple afterwards, were Prefigurations of this kind: Nay the miraculous Food and Water miniftred to the Ifraelites in the Wilderness, their extraordinary Deliverances and fignal Victories, together with the moft illuftrious and best of their Heroes, Judges, and Kings are confidered, many of them by the infpired Writers, in their feveral Defignations and Characters, as fo many Leffons of Inftruction to teach both them and us what Chrift was to be, do, or fuffer, in the Fullness of Time, for the Ifrael of God.

! These things being fo, we are not to understand by the Words of the Text, that the Mystery of Gospel Salvation was fo hid before the Coming of Christ in the Flesh,

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